The present invention relates to absorbent pads, and more particularly to absorbent pads for placement in a package beneath a food product having a tendency to exude fluid, such as meat, poultry and the like.
Conventional practice in the grocery industry is to display meat, poultry and other food products in individual transparent packages for inspection by customers. Therefore, it is highly desirable that the packaging and the food product present a pleasant appearance. To accomplish this objective, food products having a tendency to exude fluids are packaged with an absorbent pad to absorb this exuded fluid and prevent reverse migration of the fluid to the food product. This prevents any bacteria that may be associated with the fluid from contaminating the food product and causing discoloration of it. The pad further retains the fluid so that the overall packaging appearance is appealing. Since the package is discarded by the consumer after purchase, it is also desirable that the pad be inexpensive to produce.
Known prior art absorbent pad type packages for food products are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,382,507; 4,275,811; 4,410,578; 3,209,978; 3,206,209; and 4,321,997. These prior art patents have complicated constructions involving multiple layers or sheets of absorbent materials and liquid impermeable covers with perforations to pass the exuded fluid, resulting in higher production costs, and in most cases, these pad constructions also require an internal support structure to prevent the weight of the food product from forcing the fluid from the absorbent pad and back into contact with the food product. Additional prior art absorbent pads are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,814,101; 4,055,180; 3,292,135, which also involve complicated constructions requiring additional expense to produce, and they specifically disclose an application for use as diapers, incontinency pads, sanitary napkins and the like.
One objective of the present invention is to provide an absorbent pad that is fully capable of absorbing any fluids exuded from the meat product while protecting the meat product against reverse migration, and that includes a simplified construction which is capable of high speed automatic production and therefore relatively inexpensive to produce.